The invention relates to in-line wheeled skates.
The usual form of braking mechanism provided on wheeled skates, including both in-line skates, i.e. skates with the wheels arranged in tandem, and standard truck skates with the wheels arranged in pairs, is a rubber or plastic surfaced member mounted on an arm extending to the rear of the skate. As recognized also by others, a skater endeavoring to engage the rear braking surface of prior art in-line skates with the ground, or other travel surface, must extend his/her leg forward of the body, to a position that often places the skater off-balance, making it difficult to apply sufficient weight in a manner for safe braking.
Others have thought to address this problem. For example, German Patent 39 11 899 describes attachment, at the front of the skate, of a second stop member similar in form to the usual rear stop; and Landers U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,438 describes a cylinder, mounted on fixed or pivotable brackets at the front of an in-line skate, for applying a frictional braking force when rotated against the bracket arms by engagement with the ground.